Returning Home
by MJLS
Summary: Anakin visits the Jedi Temple once more, not as Vader, but as Anakin Skywalker, he walks around the place he once called home. Will he be able to handle all the memories that rest there? R&R please [Part II]


**Disclaimer : I don't own Star W**ars

**Returning Home…**

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The once so wonderful and grand building was deserted, the shadows loomed around it like the dark side. A unique building with it tall spires stands out against the Coruscant skyline.

The once so magnificent carvings on the walls were fading away under the plants that had grown around it. The piles of dust covered the floor. The ceiling had it's holes, the sun shining right through. What was once the most beautiful building of Coruscant, was now a tomb.

The old villagers of the city told their grandchildren that the spirits of ancient Jedi haunted the temple, not resting until they are laid to rest. The bodies of the Jedi that died during the purge hadn't been removed, the bones were covered with inches of dust.

Everything that had been grand to this temple had been destroyed. The statue's of Master Yoda and the other Jedi masters had been removed and broken. The windows had been spared, but blinded so that no one could look in the temple.

The massive oaken doors were closed, the shadows inside the building were the memories of the people that once served the republic as knights, to fight against the darkness in the world. But the darkness had won in the end.

_"And I helped it"_

The young man look down and felt the force all around the temple. No Jedi had set foot in here since they closed the gates, but yet, the force was still in every part of the large building. His long brown blonde hair hung in front of his eyes as he looked back at the massive oak door.

Using the force, he slowly raised the wooden restrains on the doors and opened them as silent as he could, but the sound echoed all through the empty temple. Anakin looked around. Darkness was all around, and the hall were once so many Jedi walked through, chatting with each other, is deserted.

Anakin took a deep breath and walked slowly, sadly and silently as possible through the great hall. The carpet was still in place, but the dust showed his footprints on the floor. His long black cloak swirled behind him as he walked up the stairs that he had climbed so much when he was a Padawan.

The bodies on the stairs and the floor brought back the memories he desperately wanted to forget. His footsteps echoed through the halls of the Jedi Temple. The few sun rays that lighted the abandoned temple shined upon the silver of a cylinder.

Anakin picked it up slowly, the imprint remained in the dust. A lightsaber rested in his hand, the weight was light and Anakin managed a sad smile on his face. He placed it back down on the ground with a small sound and looked around, the Jedi on the floor were faltering away to ashes, to dust.

_"This is all my fault."_

The memories of his younger days, the days with the Jedi, with Obi-Wan, the days filled with mission, happiness, friends, Padmé haunted his mind. Tears sprang in his eyes as he walked further. Parts of the statues lay broken on the ground, blaster shots were still visible on the once so clean walls.

Scorch marks were visible on the floor, where the clones shots had hit. Anakin bent down and touched one of the marks. A lonely, small tear fell down his cheek and made it's way to the cold stone floor of the hall.

He opened one of the doors, he remembered his first time in this room. It was a special room, but the glory had passed away when the temple had been demolished. The chairs, custom made for the masters, had disappeared.

The round room that once was the room where the Jedi masters gathered had been demolished. Holes in the floor and scorch marks on the walls. Bodies of younglings at Anakin's feet.

The tears sprang in his eyes as he thought of all the darkness that loomed here. These younglings had been killed by his hand, his lightsaber.

_"Good, good, young one. How feel you?" Yoda asked_

_"Cold, sir." Anakin admitted silently_

_"Afraid are you?"_

_"No, sir."_

_"Afraid to give up your life?" Mace Windy questioned, _

_Anakin looked in his eyes and answered "I don't think so."_

_"Your thoughts dwell on your mother."_

_"I miss her."_

_"Afraid to lose her…I think." Mace Windu announced_

_"What's that got to do with anything?" Anakin asked a little angry_

_"Everything. Fear is the path to the dark side... fear leads to anger... anger leads to hate.. hate leads to suffering."_

_"I am not afraid!" Anakin yelled against master Yoda in anger_

_"A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. I sense much fear in you."_

_" I am not afraid." Anakin whispered softly, looking down at his feet._

Anakin closed his eyes to stop the memory, he had come here a lot with Obi-Wan, more then he wanted to. Tears clouded his vision when he reopened them. But he refused to let them fall down his cheeks.

All the memories he had from this room only, they overwhelmed his senses, he wanted to fall on his knees and cry on that very spot, but he kept his emotion in order, regaining himself.

_"The Force is strong with him." Ki Adi mentioned to Qui-Gon who looked at Anakin smiled_

_"He's to be trained, then."_

_The council members look to one another._

_"No. He will not be trained." Mace Windu announces_

_Anakin is crestfallen; tears begin to form in his eyes._

_"No??!!"_

_"He is too old. There is already too much anger in him."_

_"He is the chosen one...you must see it."_

_"Clouded, this boy's future is. Masked by his youth."_

Perhaps Master Yoda had been right all along, maybe they would be still alive if he hadn't been trained, maybe he shouldn't be a Jedi or Sith after all. Anger rises up in him for a moment but he discharged it from the moment it threatened to take over his senses.

Master Yoda was right, his future was clouded, clouded by the dark side, but no one could've predicted that he would turn to the dark side, no one could stop him, no one, except himself. He slowly, full of doubt, walked out of the room, his footprints in the dust. Qui-Gon once told Obi-Wan _"His fate is uncertain, not dangerous."_

but he was wrong, wasn't he? He had brought down the entire order of the Jedi, in one single night. The night of Order 66, a night he will never forget, for he had walked upon the same stairs, with thousands of clones behind him, his lightsaber in his hand, killing the younglings that adored him.

Killing his friends that had stood by him whenever he was on Coruscant. The hallways were clouded in darkness, but Anakin still knew the place where his quarters were. The quarters he shared with Obi-Wan, the quarter he received when he was made a knight.

He looked around, everything was still like he left it before he had left to save Palpatine from Master Windu. He had forbidden the clones to enter his quarters, or the one that belonged to Obi-Wan. The only thing that had changed were the windows, they had been replaced by blinded windows, so no one could look into the Jedi temple.

The temple that loomed in the shadows of Coruscant, the temple that was haunted by the spirits of the dead Jedi, their bodies laying in the temple. Anakin exited the quarters and walked down the hallway, the footsteps of the Jedi could still be heard in his mind, the chatter of younglings and Padawans passing by, the laughing of Obi-Wan next door.

His eyes gazed off, countless of Jedi appeared in front of his eyes once more, the temple was restored, but the image of his mind quickly faded away as he knew it was only a fraud.

Tears in his eyes clouded his vision, but he walked away, his head hung down and his hair in front of his eyes. The memories were still in the air, in his mind, in the walls. They were printed in the room.

Unable to be removed. The room of thousand fountains had been left alone, the peacefulness of the force still lingered in the air. The soft running of water had stopped and the lights that once decorated the fountains had been broken.

Anakin takes a deep breath and sets foot in the once so holy place where every Jedi meditated around the calmness of the force. The soft noise of running water didn't run through the air. He looked around and watched as the plants that were once so nice kept by the masters, had faltered to dark brown leaves, and ashes. The years of solitude didn't do much good to the Temple.

_"Twice the pride, double the fall."_

Dooku was right, his fall had been like a thunder strike on a sunny day. No one had expected it, no one, not even him. All he wanted to do was save Padmé, but even that was out of his reach. She died because of him, because he choked her, with the dark side of the force.

_"I sense great fear in you, young Skywalker. You have hate, you have anger, but you don't use them."_

In the end, he had only used those feelings. Anger, hate, fear, suffering, the dark side. He had let his emotions walk away with him. He had listened to his emotions, not to his mind, while he was killing the younglings, his mind was screaming to stop, that what he was doing was wrong.

But his senses and feelings had taken over, the dark side controlled him. How much he wanted to stop himself. He swore he heard Qui-Gons voice that night, but he wasn't sure, the dark side had shielded him of all communications with Qui-Gon and his friends.

His metal hand clenched in the bottled up emotions. His body began to shake but he kept the tears inside. He walked out of the room of thousand fountains and walked down the hall, down the stairs, seeing the dead bodies of the Jedi, the tears threatened to fall down his cheeks but he still refused to let him fall.

His fists turned white under the pressure he placed them under, everything to hold those tears inside. He walked past the training rooms and watched through the glass. Everything was still intact, clearly the clones had not entered this room, probably because they didn't know the code and the glass was unbreakable.

Anakin entered the last code he knew and the door opened with as soft shifting sound. He looked around and let his coat drop on the dusty floor, walking to the closet, he grabbed one of the training droids and activated it, surprised when it worked perfectly well.

He smiled sadly and began to fight the droid, wanting to release all the anger, suffering from his body. He wanted it all to be out of his mind, all the memories, the pain, the tears. His lightsaber flashed through the air as the droid defended itself against the blows. Anakin gasped for air and the sweat covering his brow dropped down.

The droid fell down on the ground and Anakin's eyes watered. The tears fell down his cheeks as he dropped down on his knees, his lightsaber next to his side. His black Jedi outfit surrounded by the dust. Anakin cried.

He couldn't stand it any longer. He couldn't live with the knowledge that he had killed every single Jedi in the galaxy. He couldn't live with the conscious that he is responsible for everything bad in the galaxy. The oppression of the Sith, the Jedi purges, the empire, the destruction of Alderaan, the torturing of his daughter, the cutting of his own sons hand.

He couldn't live with the memories any longer, he couldn't live, roaming free under the alias of Anakin Skywalker once again, without thinking of all the bad things in his past. The tears fell down on the dusty floor of the training room, making soft circles in the dust.

Anakin cried for all the friends he had lost, of all the lives he had taken.

_"Master, I've disappointed you. I have not been very appreciative of your training . . . I have been arrogant and I apologize . . . I've just been so frustrated with the Council. Your friendship means everything to me. "_

_"You are strong and wise, Anakin, and I am very proud of you. I have trained you since you were a small boy. I have taught you everything I know. And you have become a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be, and you have saved my life more times than I can remember. But be patient, Anakin. It won't be long before the Council makes you a Jedi Master. "_

"What I said then is just as true now, Anakin, you are strong and wise, and your journey through the dark side, and the light side of the force are proof that a Jedi can be redeemed from the Dark Side of the force, no matter what the others think." Obi-Wan appeared in front of Anakin and smiled at him softly

"Obi-Wan, I'm so sorry" Anakin cried "This is all my fault, my fault you're dead, my fault this is a tomb, my fault that the galaxy is in the mess it's in now. I killed thousands of people Obi-Wan, including our friends, I hunted them down, and slaughtered them like animals."

"Oh Anakin, you love to blame yourself for everything. Sooner or later, you'll start saying that there's no air in space because you didn't work on it hard enough."

Anakin managed a weak smile through his tears

"The point is, you shouldn't blame yourself, you were deceived by a lie, we all were."

"But I had so many chances to turn back, 20 years I wallowed in darkness"

"Yes, but did you have the love of your son in those 20 years? Did you have the same love that brought you back."

Anakin looks down at the dusty floor and the tears continue to fall down his cheeks. Obi-Wan places a hand on his shoulder as Anakin looks up, surprised by the gesture.

"Master, I killed you, I killed the Jedi, how can you be so forgiving?"

"Because that was not you Anakin, that was Darth Vader. You are my brother Anakin, and I love you. It said you would destroy the Sith, and you did eventually, you brought Balance to the Force."

"But-"

"No buts Anakin, you came back here, you are a Jedi."

"But-"

"Stop interrupting me" Obi-Wan smiled "You are a Jedi Anakin, and I forgive you, maybe the others don't, but they will once they know you've changed. Once they see you like I do now"

The tears stop falling down Anakin's cheeks as he smiles through them. His eyes are red and swollen by the crying but he stands up and picks up his black cloak. He looks at the place where Obi-Wan's spirit had appeared moments ago.

"_I'm a Jedi, like my master before me."_

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**R&R please…**


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